


What Did I Ever Do?

by writinggeek73



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Cults, Gen, Hal is dead, Organ Theft, Panic Attacks, Self-Harm, penelope is a bitch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:00:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23238079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writinggeek73/pseuds/writinggeek73
Summary: Set in 322. Instead of just Hal dying on that tragic night, two other members of Betty's family die as well. Will she get through it on top? Bughead. Deals with Betty's mental health issues. Varchie. Choni.
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz, Penelope Blossom/Hal Cooper
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

What Did I Ever Do?

Chapter 1

_One bullet_ , it read.

The deep blue, ocean-like sheet of parchment was somehow terrifying, being all in my face like this.

The bright gold that was so carefully etched into words was like a ticking time bomb on paper.

My breath caught in my throat, as I picked up the gun. I licked my lips, still relishing the warm, cinnamon-like taste of Jughead’s lips on mine.

The ice-cold metal of the gun felt somehow natural on my flesh, as my thoughts wandered. This was the moment that I had been dreading for weeks, now.

Hal had asked me to transfer him to a different prison, only to have the transport bus get into a suspiciously convenient, but fatal accident.

The coroner had confirmed that it was my dad’s hand that they found at the crime scene, and that he was sure that Hal was dead.

Then, after somehow getting through that confusing, mind-boggling experience, it was prom night. Me, Veronica, Archie and Jughead had made plans with The Serpents and The Pretty Poisons to catch the Gargoyle King, on that same night.

I had dressed up as the Gargoyle Queen, to lure the Gargoyle King to the school, to end this thing once and for all. However, before we could catch him, I got delivered a letter, supposedly from the Gargoyle King himself.

The letter told me that unless I met him, alone, everyone at the prom was going to be killed.

So, obviously, I met him myself, whilst everyone else was locked in the gym, courtesy of the gangs. Everything that happened after that, was terrifying.

My dad, or, The Black Hood, was waiting for me, ready to kill me. He chased me down the halls, through all the classrooms, even in the bathrooms. I had managed to fend him off, and also found out just where his hand went. He cut it off, himself, which would’ve been excruciatingly painful, all to get back at me.

He then replaced it with a hook, which he scraped against the walls and lockers, making an eerie squealing sound.

The Gargoyle King came, too, and tormented me just as much. I ended up hiding in a closet, where Jughead later found me. He is seriously, the best boyfriend ever.

Through all of that, plus the added stress of The Farm, I couldn’t help but fall back into my old fist-clenching habits.

As of right now, I probably had at least eight sets of red crescent moons on my palms, which were all screaming in protest as I held the gun up to eye level. In fact, my entire body was screaming in protest.

Another one of the Gargoyle King’s tricks, or should I say Chic’s, was to feed both Veronica and me poison. Sure, it was slow-acting poison, but it still took a toll. I probably shouldn’t have even been standing, I was so tired.

But I was running off of one hundred percent adrenaline, as I waited, gun in hand, for my bastard dad to emerge from the covering of trees. My whole body was shaking as, almost as if my thoughts had summoned him, Hal Cooper trapezed through the trees and into the candle-lit clearing.

“You know how this has to end. You have to kill me, Betty. That’s you heart. That’s your truth. You can’t deny your destiny.” Hal said, smiling an infuriating smile, as he ripped off his mask and pulled out a gun, identical to the one that I was holding, and brought it up to eye level.

“Dad, please don’t make me do this,” I pleaded, tears spurting out of my eyes.

Even though I did hate my dad, that definitely did not mean that I wanted to kill him. I mean, I had known him my entire life, and I truly believed that he hadn’t always been a serial killer. He was just my dad.

He taught me how to ride a bike, how to tie my shoes. He spent endless hours with me in our garage, just teaching me how to fix cars, for god’s sake. I certainly wasn’t ready to kill him.

“You either kill me, and get the antidote, or I kill you and your friends!” He said, menacingly, as he tossed his head over his shoulder, indicating to where the antidote hung, limp, from a flimsy tree branch.

That tone, that tone in his remorseless voice, just made me cry even harder.

It was like he had forgotten all of the happy memories that we shared, like our relationship meant nothing to him.

Like I was just another bug to crush under his size-11 shoe.

“You have until the count of three,” he threatened, my heart jumping up into my throat.

“You either shoot me, or I’ll shoot you.”

“1,” Hal started, his smile rapidly increasing along with his voice.

My thoughts were spiraling. I knew that it was either him, or me.

“2,”

Names, faces, families, all flew through my head. All of the apparent ‘sinners’ that my dad had killed.

 _Now_ , I thought, was the time to get justice for all of the terrible things that he had done. To avenge all of the unnecessary deaths.

“Thr- “He started, as I pulled the trigger.

The gun barrel exploded, as a shiny silver bullet shot through the air. Even though he was a serial killer, I still hated myself for pulling that trigger.

The gun dropped out of my hands, almost mechanically, as my gaze dropped to my dad, kneeling on the forest floor.

“I will never be like you, dad,” I said, standing my ground as my eyes caught on to something interesting.

What I saw, though was thoroughly confusing.

_What?_

I thought, as I could hear V, Jug, and Archie mirroring my reaction, in gasps.

Though, I thought. _They're probably more suprised by the fact that I actually pulled that trigger_.

Hal’s hand was bloodied, his flesh ripped and torn apart. Through all of that mess, though, you could see a speck of silver, lodged in between his palm and his fingers. I let out a tiny sigh of relief, as he looked up and smiled at me.

He was going to say something, probably a snide remark, but he never got the chance.

And even if he had said something, I probably wouldn’t have heard it anyway.

Penelope Blossom walked out of the woods, along with eight of her minions. But it wasn’t Penelope that scared me. It was the two figures being dragged along by the minions, four of them for each person.

I was so confused, terrified and tense all at the same time.

“Enough! Good God, Hal. You can’t be trusted to do anything. You were a terrible serial killer then, and you still are today,” Penelope said, a dazzling smile lighting up her face.

I barely had time to register the two people that were now kneeling in front of me, beside dad.

“Oh, come on, Penelope. Don’t hurt them,” Hal negotiated, even I could hear the slight quiver in his icy voice.

“No, Hal. I told you. If you failed, or if you bailed, I would kill them. But, not your precious little daughter, Betty. No, see I want one person to live with all of the pain and suffering that you’ve caused,” she said, her voice rising.

“No, no please! I’ll do anything,” I said, pleading.

But it was too late.

Two of the minions unearthed a couple guns from their jackets, as Penelope picked up the gun that had dropped from Hal’s now-bloody hand. Time seemed to slow, as three separate gunshots went off, each hitting their own target in the head, effectively killing them.

“No!” I screamed, falling backwards, as if not being able to support my own weight on my own.

I expected to crash to the ground, but instead two pairs of warm arms greeted me, cushioning my fall.

Veronica and Jughead held me, protectively, as Archie raced over to the tree branch to collect the antidote.

I honestly couldn’t register anything that was happening.

Be that as it may, I did the one thing that I thought would help; clench my ice-cold hands into fists. My hands got tingly as I dug my nails into them, unleashing all of the anger, rage and fear.

It obviously wasn’t enough, not nearly, but considering I was in shock, it was good enough for the moment.

Jughead knew about my nail-digging problem, so one of the first things he checked were my hands. He tried his best to coax me out of that other-worldly state, but, no such luck.

Thick, warm blood poured from my hands, staining my satin-pink dress. Veronica noticed too; and let out a gasp of surprise.

Other than Jughead, my mom, my dad and Chic, no one else knew about my problems with self-harm.

Veronica quickly recovered, though, as she pressed her body against mine, rubbing my back. They were all nice gestures, though none of them would help.

My thoughts just kept playing on a loop.

 _Mom's dead. Polly's dead. Dad's dead, and it's all my fault_. _Mom's dead. Polly's dead. Dad's dead and it's all my fault._

Even though that’s what I was thinking, I couldn’t express those dark thoughts in emotions, at least not yet.

I just kept suppressing every thought that intruded my head, by digging my nails deeper into my palms. I could feel the pain, but I didn’t care.

In the back of my mind, I could hear a not-so quiet conversation between Archie and Penelope, as Archie was grabbing the antidote.

“And just what do you think you’re doing?” Penelope asked, appalled, her voice that of a scrawny bird.

From what seemed so far away, I could hear Jughead answer,” He’s claiming our prize! We won, didn’t we? We survived the night. We proved that we’re better than this town.”

Penelope sighed, as she spoke,” That may, or may not be true. But kill them. KILL THEM ALL!” She yelled, as I could feel myself sinking even farther yet into the void of panic.

I was numb on all spectrums, going completely paralyzed and molding myself into Jughead and Veronica’s arms.

I just wanted to be gone.

Leave everything.

All the pain, anger, stress, everything.

Sadly, though, that wasn’t an option at this point.

“Archie!” Jughead screeched, as he and Veronica began pulling, tugging me up from the ground.

I was dazed, lost in my own panic and misery, not even trying to struggle against the gentle, but firm tugging.

“Betty, please.” Jughead was whispering into my ear.

“Please, get up, and run.”

“That’s what your mom, and Polly would’ve wanted. For you to stay alive.” He soothed, trying to convince me to run.

If I was being honest to myself, I didn’t see a reason to run.

My parents, Polly, they were all dead. I was now an orphan, a useless, scrappy orphan.

“Please. If not for yourself, do it for Juniper and Dagwood. They need their aunty. They need your help.” Jughead pleaded, clearly using his last resort.

And yet, it worked.

I snapped out of my panicked trance long enough to pick myself up from the dirty ground, and run.

The anger and rage, at my father, at Penelope, at the world, had lit a blazing fire inside of me.

 _Juniper and Dagwood_.

Penelope had just made me an orphan, as well as two toddlers.

That rage, it just made me run harder. I could hear faint calls from Archie, Veronica and Jughead, telling me to be careful, not to trip, things of that sort.

I didn’t worry about any of that, though. I was blind with scorching hot rage.

Digging my nails into my palms the hardest yet, I willed myself to run harder, faster, to get to the twins before Penelope got to them, too.


	2. Chapter 2

We were running for so long; the sun had risen halfway in the sky. My lungs burned, and by the heaving gasps that my friends were taking behind me, so were theirs. But I barely felt that, I had laser focus; finding Juniper and Dagwood and making sure that they were okay and safe.

  
There were tears threatening to escape my eyes and my whole body just wanted to shut down and panic. I mean, my parents and my sister were dead. I had just witnessed Penelope Blossom orchestrate it, not to mention the heart-wrenching, gruesome murder scene that went along with that.

  
And I had just left them. Left them to be picked up by a couple of police officers and taken to the morgue. Though, if the police officers had any brains, then the cause of death would be fairly self-evident; they had been shot in the head. 

  
Three residents of Riverdale, two of them innocent, all of them parents, had been killed in cold blood. All by another mother who was still grieving from the loss of her very own son. Still, that definitely didn’t excuse any of her behavior. 

  
But, they would just be treated like any other dead bodies; thrown into a casket and virtually forgotten about, with only the small space of ground that they would occupy for years to come as their remnants.

  
 _Suddenly_ , I thought, _me and Cheryl don't seem so different._

  
We both lost a sibling at the hands of our father, our fathers were both dead, and we both wanted revenge against one person; Penelope Blossom.

  
I would’ve blamed my father, hell, I still do, but I wanted, needed, even craved someone that I could take my anger out on, so I decided that that lucky person would be Penelope.

  
 _I swear, if she hurts the twins, too_ , I thought, silently plotting how I would make her pay.

  
I had ripped my high heels off long ago, worried that I would break an ankle if I’d have worn them any longer. Hence, I felt the pounding of my soft feet on the hard ground more than I would’ve normally. 

  
Huffing and puffing, we came to another clearing. Only this time, there were a couple dozen people in it, along with a truck and a van. 

  
To my absolute surprise, Cheryl was there, standing confidently in the back of the truck, flanked by Toni, another surprise, and a Serpent. They were all, somehow, shooting the minions that were running after us with bows and arrows. 

  
As we came closer, Toni yelled,” Take cover!” Then went back to ambushing the enemy, with such grace I didn’t even know she had.

  
She didn’t so much as give us a second glance, but she did look visibly calmer, as did Cheryl for that matter.

  
We did as she said, skidding behind the van, collapsing with exhaustion. The three others looked at me, asking questions that probably went along the lines of,’ Are you okay?’ or, ‘Betty, we’re in the clear now’.

  
I didn’t hear them, though. My senses were way too foggy for anything right now. I just needed to find the twins. 

  
“The twins,” I mumbled, pulling away from their grasp, my eyes flitting across the scene to see if they were there.

  
“Betts, I’m sure they’re safe, but we need to stay here, together.” Jughead said, taking my actively bleeding and clenched hands in his.

  
But it wasn’t going to be enough. Jughead didn’t know what it felt like to be ripped away from his entire family, the people who raised him, and then have to run away from their dead bodies for fear of the death of all of his closest friends. I couldn’t just calm down, or ignore it. 

  
It was as if I was carrying around a 40-pound weight all across my body. It was pulling me down, and was impossible to ignore. And the key to getting it off was finding the twins, to make my parents and Polly proud. 

  
I didn’t voice my concerns though. I just clenched my fists even harder, making more blood flow out of them. Jughead must’ve felt that too, because I heard him exhale loudly, anger and worry showing through.

  
Drowning in my own panic, I didn’t even remember the poison that I had coursing through my veins until I felt a sudden wave of dizziness, and fell against the side of the van.

  
“The poison! Archie, where’s the antidote?” Jughead practically yelled, as he moved to support me from falling over. 

  
Archie opened up his hand and revealed a tiny glass bottle full of clear liquid.

  
He passed it over to Veronica, who was also struggling with dizziness, and she uncorked it and drank half of it. She then passed it over to Jughead, who tried to get me to unclench one of my fists and take it, but it wasn’t going to happen.

  
So instead, he coaxed me to open up my lips, which I did, because it would be much easier to find the twins if I was conscious.

  
He poured the liquid into my mouth, and I immediately swallowed, feeling much more alert.

  
With my newfound strength, I ran over to the truck that Cheryl was standing in and glanced in it for any sign of babies.

  
“Dear cousin, thank the almighty gods that you’re alright,” She said, jumping off the truck and wrapping me into a hug.

  
“Cheryl- Cheryl, where are the twins?” I asked, hearing the heavy tremble in my voice.

  
“Your mom, an angel in disguise gave them to me and helped me escape that godawful organ farm place. In fact, I’d love to thank that wonderous woman in person. Let’s go,” She said, motioning to the truck.

  
“Where are they?” I asked, more firm this time.

  
“They’re safe at Thistle house with dear Nana Rose. Some of The Poisons are guarding them, actually. But why are you so worried, cousin?” She said, confusion flitting across her face.

  
Not being able to hold the sickening wave of panic and grief that overwhelmed me, I let loose the tears.

  
I heard three pairs of footsteps coming up behind me, as I cried. My mom’s last act had been to protect the twins. I let myself sink into Jughead and Veronica’s loving arms once again, as I finally unclenched my fists.

  
My body was racking with sobs, as Cheryl said, concerned,” What happened?” 

  
She was suddenly on high alert, knowing that I normally didn’t break down in front of people. 

  
Since Cheryl didn’t direct the question at anyone, Veronica answered.

  
“Cheryl, when we were in the woods, we each had to complete a quest of sorts, to satisfy someone. That someone, wasyour mom,” Veronica said tentatively, as she rubbed soothing circles on my back.

  
“Yes, I know. Nana Rose told me that Mumsy had been planning this whole forest charade for months, now. Personally, I think she needs to straighten out her priorities.” Cheryl said, being her usual sarcastic self, but with a tone edged with worry.

  
“Yes. So, all of the tasks were specifically tailored to us, to teach us a lesson or feed on a fear that we had. Archie had to fight a guy in a bear costume, Jug had to fight Chic, who by the way is The Gargoyle King, and I had to do a spin the bottle game with Betty, but instead of kissing we had to drink poison. They were all the test our loyalty and strength. But Betty, Betty had to do something bad.

  
"Her and her dad were locked in battle, Hal said that she either shoots him, or he shoots her and all of us. She ended up shooting him, which we were all very surprised by, but he blocked the bullet with his hand so it didn’t kill him. But then, Penelope came up behind him, said that he broke the rules and disobeyed her. She- she had- I guess, kidnapped Alice and Polly, you know? Just in case he disobeyed her.

  
"She told him that she threatened him with the killing of Polly and Alice, but not Betty. Because she wanted someone to live on with all of pain and suffering, he’d caused. Then- then,” Veronica paused as I had dug my nails in again. 

  
“B, it’s gonna be okay,” she comforted. But what V didn’t know is that I had been doing this my whole life, as a coping mechanism. Anytime something bad happened, or I had to act like everything was perfectly fine, even if it wasn’t, I had dug my nails into my palms until they broke flesh. It seemed to compensate for all of the emotional pain that I had been feeling.

  
So, even though her attempt was nice, it wasn’t going to be that easy.

Veronica took a deep breath before she finished the story.” Penelope shot Hal, Alice and Polly.” 

  
I let out a huge sob right then and there.

  
Because people saying that, meant that it really happened.

  
That they were really dead. 

  
That I was completely and officially alone in this world.

  
“Oh my, oh my god,” Cheryl said, in shock. 

  
“Betty, I’m so, so sorry.” She said, as she knelt down to give me a hug.

  
It was warm and genuine. The kind of hug that you might’ve gotten from a sister.

  
I could tell that from that moment on, me and Cheryl would have a bond that couldn’t be broken.

  
I returned the hug, being as warm and as genuine as I could, knowing that she was the only one in that small clearing that completely understood what I was going through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was Chapter 2! Let me know if you want to see more, because right now I'm sort of on the fence about it. :)


End file.
